NonExistent Ears
by Natarii-loves-Chocolate-milk
Summary: The last time Sasuke saw her, she stormed out of his house significantly Ear-less. After that, Sasuke's rose coloured view of Itachi distinctly diminishes. Two years later, and she blunders back into his life. Past ItaNaru. SasuFemNaru.
1. Itachi, Naruto, Sasuke: The Preface

_**Judging by the copyright claiming Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, I find it suffice to say I do not own Naruto.**_

* * *

  
Sasuke watched his brother from one of the chairs occupying the living room as he argued in a hushed tone on his mobile phone. The wolf-like ears atop his head flattened and his tail flicked back and forth angrily before he ended the call and made for the door leading out of the house.

Sasuke followed him, worried. It was almost 9PM, where on earth was his brother going at this time of night? Itachi was acting in a very unsettling manner recently. After their parents died he'd joined some weird gang and gotten into heaps of trouble, but that seemed to have died down somewhat. Until a few weeks ago. Itachi had been leaving the house for days at a time for some reason. Not to mention the mystery phone calls.

"Ita-" Sasuke was ignored but for the slam of the door. He sighed, and turned back to the living room.  
He would just have to wait for his brother to come back to confront him.

'_He's lucky Madara had a late shift at the hospital otherwise there would have been a riot'_ Sasuke thought to himself as he settled down in his chair again and flicked through the channels, intent on staying awake till his brother returned.

He did not manage this.

When Sasuke awoke, he found himself in his own bed instead of the living room. He came to the conclusion that his uncle must have moved him, since Itachi didn't seem to be bothered about him all that much nowadays. He briefly wondered if his brother was home when he heard muffled voices coming from his brother's room. It was right next to his, and the wall wasn't very thick, so he pressed his ear against the wallpaper and listened. It was muffled, but he could pick up some of the conversation.

He was surprised to hear a mention of his brother's old gang, Akatsuki, but even more surprised to hear a girls voice. In all the years he had know his brother (which was his entire life) he had never seen him as much as glance at a girl. Now he has one in his room?

"_Stop it!"_

Wow. Whoever she was, this girl had guts. Even Madara was scared of Itachi when he was pissed off (he wasn't even going to begin talking about his Cousin), but this girl had no qualms about giving it to him straight. He had to admire her courage; he could tell even muffled that Itachi was severely agitated.

"_Will you calm down and let me-"_  
"_No! Let go of me!"_

The voice could clearly be heard. Sasuke heard the sounds of footsteps and hurried to his own bedroom door, once again concerned. When he opened it and turned his head towards the doorway to Itachi's room he received another surprise.

A girl his age was standing in the hallway. She was barefoot, but he could see trainers and socks on the ground at her feet. She was wearing what were obviously his brothers jeans, since they were far too baggy around the waist to be her own, and was in the process of pulling on he own chequered shirt. Sasuke thanked the gods it was dark, for he felt himself blushing at sight of what looked like her orange bra. Kiba would never let him live this down if he found out; unlike his perverted friend, he was not a regular of the porn section in the newsagents. How Kiba even bought those magazines was a mystery considering he, like himself, was still fourteen.

He waited until the girl finished closing her shirt before peeking around the door once again. She looked familiar; blonde hair in pigtails reaching just past her shoulders and whisker marks on her cheeks. He couldn't tell what her eye colour was from the distance and darkness. After pulling on her socks and trainers, she moved swiftly down the hall. Sasuke pulled back into his room to avoid being spotted spying as she passed his room. It was at this point, upon getting a better look at her face, that he recognised her.

Naruto Namikaze; she was one of the girls in his class. He knew her since she was friends with pretty much the entire class - she was actually in most of his classes, and they were bench-mates in chemistry. She was one of the few (Re: almost non-existent) girls who didn't swoon at the sight of him, even going so far as to routinely kick his ass in the Karate club (much to his eternal frustration).

'_No wonder she isn't scared of Itachi'_ he thought to himself as she walked towards the door. He poked his head around the door further still and watched her leave. As she closed the door behind her he noticed two things that were distinctly out of the ordinary.

One: She wore a face that was a vision of hell itself.  
Two: She lacked the fox ears and tail that had been poking out earlier that day.

Sasuke surmised the morning wasn't going to be a good one.  
Especialy not for Itachi.

- - - - - - - - -

Kyuubi glared at the eggs that had been shovelled on top of his toast by his mother.

"Mum, why are you giving me eggs? I hate eggs!" he grumbled pushing the fried globs of mucus of his toast, being careful to avoid splitting the yolks. No way was he getting mucus-glop-goop all over his toast.

"Kyuubi, just eat the eggs" Minato told his son half-heartedly, flicking boredly through a newspaper. He picked up a cup of coffee as he flicked to the sports section to check the rugby scores. His wife joined them, chuckling at their antics. It was some moments before Kushina spoke.

"Where's Naruto? She's normally up by now. She has karate practice this morning…" she said, looking around for her tomboy daughter. Minato and Kyuubi looked around and noticed for the first time the lack of the youngest (and noisiest) member of the family.

"I'll go get her…" Kyuubi sighed in a resigned manner. This was more aimed at his sister's laziness than the interruption of his so-called-breakfast however. He traipsed up the stairs and walked down a hall to a bright orange door, decorated with signs promising pain, dismemberment, castration, impalement, and other forms of bodily harm should one enter unless invited.  
He rapped on the door loudly.

"Oi brat, get your ass out of bed! You're late for Karate!" he yelled. He paused, waiting for the usual protesting and panicking that did not come. Puzzled, he rapped on the door again, louder this time.

"Naruto! Up and at 'em!" he shouted.

There was still no answer. Officially worried he decided, at risk of his own safety, to enter the room. This was no mean feat since his sister's promises of pain that adorned her door were not unfounded. She was very close to black belt level, if not already. She also had strict rules concerning privacy that were not to be taken lightly. Upon entering the room he froze. Everything was in exactly the same place as it had been the day before when Naruto had dragged him in to help her with her German homework. Her schoolbooks, computer, frog-spawn/toad tank, collection of battered manga books, Karate Gi, everything was in its rightful place.

What Kyuubi found so disconcerting was the image of a bed that had no been slept in, and the absence of his younger sister. He blinked to make sure he was not dreaming before running back down the stairs as if his non-existent tail had caught fire. His parents stared at him as he ran back into the kitchen with a panicked look across his face.

"What's wrong with you?" his father asked, raising an eyebrow over the top of his paper. His mother eyed him with a look of concern.

"Naruto's not in her room! I don't think she came home last night!" he stated bluntly. Kyuubi never did believe in sugar-coating things. Kushina dropped the plate she had been holding and it crashed to the floor, shattering.

"W-What? Then where is she?" she asked, an un-natural panic edging into her voice.

Minato raised an eyebrow at this behind his newspaper. Why would his wife be panicking so much? Naruto often stayed out at her friends' homes. It was the only way she could keep up with them all. Besides, Naruto was pretty much a black-belt; she could more than defend herself in any case of trouble. Though not many people would be stupid enough to try anything with her, Kumo wasn't that big of a town and Naruto was well known thanks to that incident with Mizuki. No-one had given reason to get on her bad side since.

There was no reason to be so worried.  
Unless… Kushina knew something he didn't?

"If I knew, I would not be standing here mum!" Kyuubi replied irritably.

Kyuubi was a different matter entirely. He was not very good at controlling his anger - he'd even been to a psychologist to get some help for it - and he had, in a manner of speaking, a sister complex. Kyuubi was a very devoted older brother. He was no pushover, Kyuubi refused to give in to the pouts he and his wife always fell for, and only acted in what he perceived to be in Naruto's best interests. This included a healthy dose of worrying whenever she stayed with a friend (Kyuubi was definitely a worry-wart). Combine this with anger-management issues and the problem was clear.

Minato sensed the panic in his wife and his eldest child was not going to do anyone any good and decided it would be best to intervene sooner rather than later.

"Calm down Kyuubi" he spoke sharply to his eldest. "Go try ringing her mobile her mobile. Kushina, you try the Haruno's. I'll ring the Yamanaka's, she may have stayed with Sakura or Ino and just forgotten to tell us" he reasoned. While he was worried himself, he saw no point in panicking when there may be no reason to do so.

His wife and son both found this to be a reasonable suggestion, and calmed down somewhat before doing as instructed. Kyuubi paced back and forth on his mobile waiting for his sister to miraculously pick up as Kushina spoke to Mr Haruno on the landline. Minato fished his own mobile out of his pocket and flicked down the list of contacts to Inochi's number. The phone rang for barley a moment before it was answered.

"_Minato, is that you?"_ he asked, sounding somewhat highly strung.  
"Yes, listen, Naruto didn't come home las-"  
"_Oh, thank god you called! I had no idea whether to call or not!"_

"Is Naruto with you?" Minato asked, a pinch of worry tainting his voce as he noted his friends alarm.

"_Yes, listen, I think you should get over here Minato. I was watching one the James bond films with Ino when she turned up on the doorstep at about 2AM! She's an absolute mess, she's holed herself up with Ino and I have no idea what's going on since Ino locked me out"_ the man grumbled but the wary tone in his voice alerted Minato to something much more serious.

"What? Why? Is she alright?" Minato made no effort to hide the panic in his voice. If Inochi was so off-centre than it was safe to assume something not-so-pleasant had occurred.  
"…_just get your ass over here quick Minato. You'll see what I mean when you see for yourself"_  
"See for myself? What are you talking abou-"

Minato glared at the phone after Inochi hung up.

"Minato, what happened?" his wife asked, laying a hand on his arm. He looked at his wife seeing the concern for both himself and Naruto on her face.

"I don't know, Inochi wouldn't say. He seemed pretty shaken up though…" he trailed off. He snapped back to the task at hand and grabbed his car keys off the table and headed out the door.

- - - - - - - - - -

Sasuke slumped down at the breakfast table feeling what he assumed would be similar to a hangover. He wasn't completely sure having never had a hangover before, but he assumed the feelings of wanting to crawl under his duvet and sleep for eternity were similar. He'd had almost no sleep thanks to some weird dream involving his chemistry partner.

Madara was telling him and his younger cousin, Tobi, about his eldest son (Oibito) who was working in the Galapagos Islands. Something about sea turtles. Tobi found this enthralling. Sasuke could care less if Oibito was making sharks fin soup for orang-utans. He was about to tell the man to shut up (he really was very irritable) when his uncle took the idea of speech from his mouth.

"Well, I wasn't expecting this when I came home last night"

Sasuke pulled his head off the table and turned in his seat, wondering what had his normally stoic uncle so surprised, to feel the blood drain from his already pale face. Itachi stood at the counter pouring himself a bowl of cereal as if it were the most normal thing in the world. This would be the case on most mornings were it not for the absence of his ears and tail.

"I'm eighteen Uncle Madara, almost nineteen" Itachi said quietly, taking his seat beside Sasuke (who was still staring at his brother as if he was missing a limb) and attacking his cereal.

"True, but you aren't exactly the social type Itachi. Last I checked, you were scaring both girls and boys away deliberately" Madara dug for further information eagerly. Once interested, the man could be an absolute gossip whore. It was actually rather scary at times.

"Also true, but my love life isn't something of your concern Uncle" Itachi replied just as quietly. Madara found this amusing (if the light smirk was anything to go by), but stopped digging for information from his nephew. Sasuke hadn't touched his own breakfast since his brother had appeared at the table. He hadn't been dreaming. His brother had had sex with his classmate. His chemistry partner. His Karate rival.

That was unsettling for a variety of reasons. One being Naruto was his classmate, it was just_ weird. _Another was the fact that should this be discovered, his brother could be charged with rape since Naruto was distinctly not the legal age required for such acts. He had no doubt Naruto's father and brother would hit the roof when they saw Naruto walking earless to the breakfast table.

This led him to his third reason for discomfort; Naruto had not been happy when she left. In fact, she'd looked ready to kill something. Was it possible that…? Sasuke was positive this was not the case. His brother had been to juvie for a few weeks after one expedition during his time in Akatsuki, but that had been for stealing. He was fairly positive Itachi was no rapist. The very idea was preposterous.

Whatever the reason, Sasuke found himself wanting to rip his brother's head of for the first time in his life. He abruptly pushed his chair back and punched his elder sibling as hard as he could on the nose. He felt a cracking noise as blood spurted from his brother's nose; it was at the very least fractured.

"Bastard" he hissed before walking top the hallway. He picked up his rucksack and jacket, before walking out of the house and slamming the door behind him.

"This morning's just full of surprises isn't it?" Madara asked rhetorically, pressing an ice pack to the nose of his now de-virginized nephew.  
Tobi laughed as Itachi hissed from the pain.

- - - - - - - - - -

Minato had barley knocked on the door when Inochi opened it. One look at his friend told him whatever his daughter had gotten herself into this time was nothing good.

"You'll have to be very persuasive Minato. She won't come out of Ino's room, and Ino wont let us in. I swear I heard furniture moving a few minuets ago" Inochi informed him, a worried frown on his face as they mounted the stairs. They stopped outside the door to Ino's room and Inochi knocked on the door.

"Ino, Naruto, open up!"  
"Go away Dad! You're just making things worse!" Ino yelled angrily from the other side of the door.

Inochi sighed and pulled at his long hair in frustration before trying again.  
"Naruto, your dad's here honey"

There was silence for a long time. Eventually Minato broke it. "Naruto, come on out, your mother's probably cleaning by now" he stated, knowing full well this was very likely to be true. He'd seen his wife grabbing a bottle of bathroom beach from the cleaning cupboard before walking out the door. Kushina only cleaned when she was worried, sad or angry.

"Dad! I said don't call them you idiot!" Ino yelled again.  
"I didn't! Minato phoned me!" Inochi left out the fact that had his friend not phoned when he had, he would have phoned him anyway.

"Naruto, come on out, I'm not mad okay? Were just worried, Kyuubi was about to call the neighbourhood watch when he didn't find you snoring this morning" Minato was, by now, very worried. Naruto was bold, brash and anything but afraid. She beat up boys several years her senior on a regular basis for heavens sake.  
What on earth made her hide in Ino's bedroom?

"We don't have a neighbourhood watch dad" came a low, mumbled, female voice Minato recognised as his daughter's.  
"You know what I mean, now are you going top come on out? I won't get mad, promise"

He heard a snort form Ino. Apparently Naruto glared at her if her next sentence was anything to go by.  
"What? You're thinking the same thing!"  
"Yeah, but I didn't snort piggy"  
"Shut up!"

There was a snicker and the sound of feet moving across the floor, followed by a heavy scraping sound. Inochi gave Minato a look that said_ 'I told you they moved the furniture!'_

"Naruto, are you sure you want to go out yet? You can stay a while longer… it's not like, I mean…" Ino's voce permeated through the door worriedly. Minato had to strain to hear her voice.

"I can't hide in here forever Ino" Naruto replied in a somewhat resigned tone of voice. "Though the idea does seem appealing, Kyuubi's going to go ape-shit crazy…" Naruto grumbled at the idea. Minato could sympathise with that to a certain degree.

"And your dad isn't?!" Ino hissed barley loud enough for them to hear.  
Minato didn't like all the worry he could hear coming from Ino. Ino was like Inochi - she didn't worry about much.

"Well duh, but not like Kyuubi! Kyuubi'll go on a homicide spree if he…" Minato didn't hear the rest of the sentence. They were taking care not to be overheard. They were so absorbed in trying to overhear, he almost didn't hear his daughter talking to him from the other side of the door.

"Dad, my crazy moment is over, and I'm coming out. I want you to promise that if you freak out-"  
"-You mean when he freaks out-"  
"-Shut up Ino! If you freak out, promise you won't actually freak out until we get home so you can freak out with everyone else and save time on the freaking out"

Despite the confusion, Minato promised his daughter he would not freak out until they got home. There was a pause before there was another scraping of furniture, and the unlocking of what sounded like three different locks being unlocked. Apparently Naruto had influenced Ino somewhat. The door opened and Ino stepped out looking like she strongly disagreed with her friends actions from the way her fluffy ears and tail twitched. Inochi seemed to be sweating a little bit.

The door opened again, wider this time and he heard an intake of breath before Naruto stepped out. Minato stared at his daughter for a moment, seeing noting wrong until his eyes landed on here ears; or rather, the spot where they should have been. He suddenly felt a lot of different emotions. The desire to kill something was definitely noticeable. Also was the desire to freak out, but he had promised this would not occur till they were both back at the house.

Naruto looked like she wanted to run back into Ino's room, but she did not. Instead she thanked Inochi for letting her stay and hugged Ino, mumbling something inaudible to her, before tugging his sleeve.

"Dad, can we go home now?" she asked.

Minato stared at her. Since when did she _ask_ to be taken home? The question told him just how shaken up she was and he felt the worry magnify. What on earth had happened to her? Was this something of her own volition or… was it not? He hoped it was consensual, but judging from her pale colour even if it was it likely had not ended well. In a way, that was probably even worse.

She seemed to be shaking. Dear lord, how many firsts was he supposed to deal with in one day? Naruto was right; Kyuubi would go homicidal on the guy who had completely destroyed his daughter's confidence to such an extent. He almost felt sorry for him.  
Almost. He felt there would be a certain justification in his son's actions (and there would be actions taken, of this he was certain).

Pretending to pass off the shaking as the cold, he pulled off his coat and pulled it around the blonde girl's shoulders, making a show of the action. He gave Inochi a glance conveying silent gratitude as he followed his daughter out of the door.

- - - - - - - - - -

Sasuke glared at his brother as his elder sibling blocked his pathway out of the house.

"What?" he asked, making no move to even be polite. He did the opposite, making his distaste for his brother very clear.  
Itachi visibly flinched and Sasuke felt a small victory.

"You've been avoiding me" Itachi stated. Sasuke snorted.  
Wasn't Itachi supposed to be one of those prodigies? The standards must be slipping if it had taken him this long to notice.

"You don't say?" he retorted.  
"Care to tell me why?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke glanced at his face and saw genuine confusion. He thought for a moment before deciding his brother should at least know why he was avoiding him so much. He hadn't exactly left any clues for him. Sasuke gave his brother a levelled gaze filled with contempt.

"Care to tell me where Naruto's ears went?" he asked sardonically. Itachi's eyes widened slightly before Sasuke let loose.

"She's my fucking classmate Itachi! What the hell did you do to her?! No-ones seen neither hide nor hair of her and her family for two weeks! Not since she left your room you sick bastard!"

Alright the last bit was a lie; Ino had mentioned her staying the night and being completely out of it. It was not public knowledge she had been with his brother either - though Ino probably knew something. That was not the point however; the point was that she had vanished off the face of the earth. Sasuke ignored his brother's wide eyed stare and pushed past him, heading for the door.

Madara raised an eyebrow as he slammed the door behind him. He turned to the stunned Itachi and gave him a blank look.

"What was that about Minato's daughter, Itachi?" he asked in a quiet voice.  
Itachi gulped.

- - - - - - - - - -

_**Please don't ask where this came from because I have no idea. I was half-way through washing my hair when it popped into my head out of nowhere. I have no idea what prompted this. I had eaten a lot of cheese that day so maybe that had an influence on my brain…**_

_**Whatev. Here. Read. Enjoy.****  
Reviews please *Puppy-Dog Eyes*  
Natariixxx**_


	2. Passage Of Time: The Reunion

_**Ok, do I have to keep putting this up every chapter? I'm running out of methods to make this more interesting to write. Unless lawyer-Sharkies are going to chase me, I'm not putting this up again. So someone tell me if there will be lawyer-Sharkies. I don't own Naruto.**_

* * *

Sasuke flopped down into the seat next to Hinata grumpily. The poor girl was cowering in terror, but he was too angry to try calming down.  
Itachi had been in a _'try-to-talk-to-little-brother' _mood this morning, and Sasuke did not like those moods. Mornings were bad enough without those in the first place.

Sasuke's cat-like ears and matching tail twitched at the memory.  
God owed him compensation for this!

"God, what's wrong with you this morning? Fall onto a pile of nails after waking up on the wrong side?" Sasuke turned to see a familiar blonde dropping into the seat next to him. He also noticed the lack of ears and raised an eyebrow.

"You and Kiba finally together?" he asked.  
Ino spluttered.

"Thank god, I was sick of listening to Kiba barking on about his apparent invisibility" Ino stared before snorting with laughter.

He and Ino had formed a strange friendship after Naruto disappeared. After it became known he hated Itachi, Ino had cottoned on to the fact he knew more than anyone else. When asked, he had recalled everything he had seen (almost everything anyway; he'd left out the Bra) and overheard. Ino became very grim faced.

"My dad completely freaked out!" she laughed half-heartedly. Sasuke knew why. It had been Ino Naruto had sought refuge from after fleeing his own house. It made sense for Ino's father to become more protective after that. They were talking about the essay Yugito had given them for religious studies when they were interrupted by two yells.

"Kurenai's on maternity leave isn't she? Who's the sub?" Ino asked. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders; he was just as curious as she was truth be told (which it would not be).

Sakura and Kiba appeared from nowhere, completely out of breath. Sasuke gave Kiba's head a significant glance and the boy turned bright red. However he ignored any retorts he may have spoken in favour of more shocking news.

"We just saw Naruto!" he gasped collapsing into the seat behind Ino, said girl staring at him eyes wide with shock. When he failed to verify her unspoken question she tuned to Sakura, who had plopped into the seat on her left.

"It's true! I wasn't sure at first, but I recognised the scars on he cheeks from that crash on the field trip to Suna! After that it was obvious!" she said, slightly calmer than Kiba, having had a chance to get her breath back. Sasuke was fighting the urge to jump out of his seat and turn the whole building upside down to find her.

"I thought she moved! What's she doing in our catchment school?" he asked. They now knew the Namikaze's had moved out of Kumo. Supposedly this was for work-related reasons, but Sasuke and Ino (likely Sakura too) suspected otherwise.

"She lives in Konoha" Ino informed him somewhat sheepishly.

He glared at her.

"I thought you knew!!"  
"I've never seen her though, and Madara moved us here a year ago" Sasuke argued.

"Konoha's huge Sasuke" Kiba interjected. "She'll have gone to a different school, but never mind that, she'll be in our year right?"  
"Obviously, she's the same age as us" Ino replied. Sasuke was sure he heard a low mumble of _'stupid dog boy'_

"So that means there's a chan-"  
"Oi! Brats! Quit the chit chat!"

The class turned to the front of the room to find an old man with long white hair that spiked all over the place - struggling to break out of the haphazard ponytail it was held in. Ino seemed to recognise the man immediately, as did Sakura.

"Pervy Hermit! What are you doing here?!" Ino yelled, shocking those who did not hail from Kumo (they were used to her brash nature). The old man seemed to twitch before he cleared his throat.

"I am Jiraiya Namikaze, but you will call me Jiraiya. I'll be your replacement for Kurenai as your registration and Health Class teacher..." he gave Ino a mischievous grin "...though it looks like some of you don't really need it, right Ino?" Ino turned beet red and grumbled to herself about stupid old nosy perverts as Jiraiya read the names of the register.

They did not seem to be in alphabetical order yet, as Sasuke's name was called fairly quickly. Jiraiya took a close, scrutinising look at him for a few nervous moments. Sasuke recognised the man's second name all too well.

"You related to Itachi?" he asked.

"Unfortunately" Jiraiya raised a querical eyebrow.

"He's my brother" Sasuke grumbled, trying to make his distaste for his brother clear to who he remembered to be Naruto's grandfather.

"No wonder you look so familiar" Jiraiya spoke. "I taught him a few years ago, what he doing now?"  
"I don't know, and I don't care enough to find out. We don't get along" Sasuke informed him pointedly.

This seemed to interest the man and Sasuke expanded on his statement.  
"Certain actions of his leave a lot to be desired."

Jiraiya's face remained unchanged, but Sasuke was certain he understood the allusion.  
Wether he did or not was unclear as he continued to list people off his register.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Naruto asked her red-haired companion, Gaara glared at her and Naruto gave a sigh of frustration.  
"Don't glare at me! Your sense of direction is worse than Yagura-Sempai's!" she said, giving him a glare of her own.

Their third companion groaned in frustration.  
"This is why I said we should have asked that guy to give us directions, it would have saved all this trouble" Shikamaru grumbled.

Gaara and Naruto gave him a look of pure horror.  
"No" Gaara stated simply. Naruto was much more vocal, but just as objectionable.

"Hell no! Did you not _see_ his eyebrows? They were just freaking weird!" she yelled.  
"It's better than getting lost!"

They continued to argue until a pair of third-years took pity on them, recognising them as hopelessly lost transfer students.  
"Hey, are you guys ok?" a girl with pale-mint coloured hair asked. The three looked like they could have kissed her.

"You look new, are you guys transfers?" she asked. Naruto nodded enthusiastically.  
"Really? We haven't had any transfers in ages! I'm Fuu, this is Utakata, we're third years, and you look like second years, where are you transferring from?" The three recent additions to the school seemed a bit taken aback by the girl. She was certainly enthusiastic. The Utakata guy just blew another bubble with his gum.

"We're from Sarutobi Institute, we transferred in today but we've got ourselves a bit-"  
"The words _'a bit'_ here meaning _'completely and utterly'_"  
"Shut up Shikamaru!" Naruto hissed before turning back to Fuu.

"We're looking for Jiraiya's classroom" she finished, deciding it was better to be concise.

"Eh?! Sarutobi's? You must be freaking geniuses!" the girl gawped.

"Naruto isn't" Gaara stated. Naruto glared at him.  
"Says the boy who can't even put milk on cereal without burning it!"  
"That was once" Gaara stated calmly.

"Hey, I don't suppose you know my brother?" Fuu asked, excitedly. "He's got sandy hair and purple eyes and he always gets lost and-"  
"D-Do you mean Yagura-Senpai?" Naruto asked, somewhat thrown by the girls excitable nature. The older girl squealed.

Shikamaru ignored them and turned Utakata and asked for directions to their classroom again. After receiving them, he thanked them before turning on his companions. Failing to get their attention, he settled fro dragging their ears till they calmed down.

* * *

"What are you doing here?!" Kyuubi hissed at the seemingly-calm black haired man. Behind his blank expression Itachi was secretly screaming and pulling his hair out. Why was Kyuubi here? Kyuubi wasn't supposed to be here! Did he live in Konoha? This wasn't an ideal turn of events to say the least.

Kyuubi had nowhere near had his fill of revenge.

"Studying. What else do you do in a college?" he asked, trying to sound calm. Kyuubi ground his teeth together and Itachi was certain he heard growling.

"I meant what are you doing in Konoha?" Itachi was impressed with his self-control. It appeared to have drastically improved since their last meeting, though their last meeting hadn't exactly been on friendly terms.

"Madara moved over to the west side a year ago" Itachi clarified. Kyuubi seemed to grow more agitated by this and Itachi prudently took a small step away from him.  
"What? Where?" the redhead growled.

"Sharingan Avenue" Itachi answered immediately. Kyuubi seemed to twitch a little but made no other move to suggest he was displeased with this. After a moment he glared at him. Before turning away from him, mumbling something to Shukaku and turning back to Itachi.

He walked up to him and punched him squarely on the nose.

"Now you listen to me Uchiha, because I'm not going to say this again, stay away from Fuuton Street, particularly the house with the orange roof. If I see you even set one foot on that street, you'll be dead before you can scream" he hissed at the man with the profusely bleeding nose.

Itachi nodded, not wanting to antagonise the irate man any further. Kyuubi seemed satisfied he had given the message he wanted, and turned away from Itachi and walked away without another word.

Itachi stood frozen for a few moments before realising he had actually survived the encounter, and breathed a sigh of relief. He then realised he was late for his next class and cursed.

* * *

By the time they had, they were already standing outside the classroom door. Naruto banged on the door a couple of times before sliding it open and marching in, dragging her more reluctant comrades along with her. Gaara growled at this put Naruto paid no heed to him.

"Oi! Pervy-Hermit! What the hell is up with this school? It's a freaking maze!" she yelled. She failed to notice the stares on the would-be familiar faces. Particularly those of the duck-ass haired boy and the earless blond girl.

"I said to stop calling me that you little scamp!"  
"I'll stop calling you Pervy-geezer when you stop teaching health class with your porno-books" Naruto snorted, dismissing the very idea.

Ino and Sasuke were still staring mouths agape at the familiar blonde girl. After a few moments she felt their eyes and looked around to find the person ogling her. She would have fallen over had Shikamaru not caught hold of her arm.

"W-What the bloody hell are you doing here?!" she yelled, pointing at Sasuke, who seemed rather confused by her statement.  
"What do you think?" he asked, wondering if the girl had lost her brain during her two-year absence.

"B-But you graduated! And take those freaking fake's off!" she yelled, pointing at Sasuke's twitching ears.

Sasuke's head snapped up, eyes widening. Was she blind or did he really look that much like his brother? Well they were related, and he had changed in the years she had been away...

Grudgingly, _very_ grudgingly, he could forgive her for mistaking him for Itachi.  
"You really are stupid if you can't recognise your old Chem. partner"

Naruto's eyes widened.  
"S-Sasuke?!"

* * *

Itachi could hear the man growling in his seat behind him. He was seriously growling! Who the hell actually growls when theyre mad? He sounded like some sort of incredibly pissed of canine. More to the point, he was pissed of with Him.

It was not goood to have the dude with anger management issues pissed off with you.  
It was like going up shit creek without a boat, let alone a paddle.

If it was just Kyuubi, Itachi might have been able to cope with all the glaring. But of course, fate was a complete bitch and it was not just Kyuubi he had to put up with. Oh no, he also had to put up with his new lecturer, Kushina Namikaze. He was grateful it wasn't her husband (that dude was scary when he was mad. Like Madara), but that didn't mean he was comfortable with the idea.

Far from it. How on earth was he supposed to concentrate on the causes of earthquakes or whatever if his teacher was his- err… his Ex's… Yeah! His Ex's mother! And Kushina held a grudge! He could just tell she wanted to rip out his eyeballs and eat them!

No wonder Naruto had never let him actually meet the woman. If that scary mask of politeness was anything to go by, he'd be dead in a month. If Kyuubi didn't catch him at any rate, if Kyuubi caught him he'd be dead by the end of the week. Maybe coming to college again was a bad idea…

If he could get Madara to get him a job at the hospital as a cleaner or something, he might just make it through the year. He could almost smell the gears of revenge in their heads turning. Yes, he would go back home and talk to Madara.

Creepy as the guy was, he always had a solution. It made him slightly creepier, but it was damn useful.

* * *

Lunch time came around, and Naruto was instantly dragged off by Ino and Sakura. Shikamaru and Gaara followed them with Kiba and Sasuke. After claiming a table for themselves, the girl was instantly bombarded with questions.

"Jesus, calm down! One at a time!" she yelled over the inundation of voices. Shikamaru grumbled something to himself, before fishing out his mobile.

"Why didn't you tell me you were transferring?!" Ino yelled, whacking the girl on the head a few times before glomping her. "I missed you you idiot!" she released her fellow blonde and grimaced at her choice of clothing. She was wearing the boys' black military-type uniform with an orange vest. It was somewhat baggy.

"You're going to force me into skirts again aren't you?" Naruto asked, sounding disgusted at the mere suggestion.  
"You bet I am! And Sakura's going to help me" she paused, waiting for Sakura to agree with her. She turned to the girl to find her deep in conversation with the red-head. Naruto snickered.

"Looks like Sakura's got other plans Ino" she grinned. Ino gave her a half-hearted glare.

"How come you just left like that?" Kiba asked. "One day you were in class with us, next thing we know you've been gone for weeks. We were freaking out until you finally emailed Ino" he reprimanded cheerily. Naruto rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Well, my parents got jobs at the college in the east district. It was a one time offer and… well; it seemed like a good idea to go at the time. It took forever to buy the house in west and get the old one sold, so we were staying a hotel for a few weeks. That's why I couldn't get in touch - no broadband. That and the reception here sucks ass!" she explained.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he knew Ino's were doing the same.  
She was dodging.

"Oh god, don't I know it?" Kiba agreed. "Shino and Choji go to school in Suna, its hell just trying to send a text to them"  
"I know! I saw them at the Championships last year!" she eagerly jumped into the conversation. "Choji looks great, it's like he's got actual muscle now! He completely crushed our school's Sumo Captain during the finals!"

"Since when did Choji do Sumo?" Ino asked, surprised by this new information.  
"I think it's been a year now" Kiba mused.

They conversed about their old classmates; even Sasuke added his own trickle of information from time to time. Sakura was eventually dragged from her conversation with Gaara, and Hinata joined their table after finishing her Cello practice.

"Hey Naruto, Temari wants to know if you're going to the party on Thursday" Shikamaru drawled.  
"Who else is going?" she asked, warily. Sasuke picked up her tone of voice and resisted the urge to frown.

"Yagura-Sempai, Roshi, Kankuro, and a bunch of random people" he yawned. "Nothing to worry about"  
"Alright then, Temari's parties are always good!"

"Hey, Naruto, who are these guys?" Ino asked.  
The lazy guy seemed to strike familiar chord with her for some reason, but she didn't recognise the red-head.

"Oh crap! I completely forgot! The red-head is Gaara-" she indicted the boy sitting next to Gaara, once again deep in quiet conversation with Sakura.

"-and this is Shikamaru" she indicated the boy on her right.

Ino scrutinised the boy in more detail, and something clicked in her long-term memory store.  
"Oh god, I remember you now! You were my neighbour, you move away in kiddie school! You were always hanging around with Choji!" Ino gawped at the boy who had resumed texting.

"Huh?" he asked, looking up from his phone.  
Ino twitched.

"Hey, what school did you go to?" Kiba asked realising Naruto had yet to mention her previous school. He was curious as to where she had gone if she had lived here. He lived just outside the town, and Sasuke lived on the outskirts of the west district. If she had been here, why hadn't they noticed?

Sure, Konoha was huge, but there were plenty of inter school tournaments floating around. She'd already mentioned seeing Choji and Shino, so was definitely in at least one sports club, so why hadn't they heard about her from the othe-s during their games? Several of their other classmates had joined this school and would have mentioned seeing her; it had been one of them who told him she'd been spotted this morning.

"Sarutobi's" Shikamaru drawled.  
"You mean the genius school over in west?!"

Kiba gawped at Naruto. How on earth did Naruto get into that genius school? Well, that explained why they'd never met her at games. Genius schools like that had their own circles till they got to the championships.

"No wonder we never saw you" Hinata noted quietly. "That's on the other side of town"  
Kiba noted that as another fair point. That was in the middle of West, and they didn't go there much.

"How the hell did you get in there?" Ino asked, just as shocked as her boyfriend. Sasuke also though it was strange, but kept his comments to himself. Naruto usually had a suitable explanation for things.

"I got in on the sports scholarship" Naruto clarified. Sasuke found that made sense; the blonde girl had always excelled in sports back in Kumo, especially in karate. He knew first hand how good her karate was; she'd routinely beaten him to a pulp. He desperately hoped he'd improved since then…  
He didn't want to suffer humiliation like that again if he could help it.

"I still had to keep my grades at least a C though, which was really annoying." she seemed to grumble at the memory. Sasuke couldn't blame her. Naruto was aware that she was not the sharpest crayon in the box, maintaining a C at Sarutobi's must have been worse than keeping an A here was.

"So, if you went to such a great school, how come you transferred here?" Sakura asked. She would have killed to get into Sarutobi's, but even her oversized brain had failed the entrance exams. It was by a mark and a half, but she'd still failed. Her first ever fail! she'd been miserable for weeks after that.

"Konoha high wants to start participating in the inter-school sports league, but their clubs don't meet the standards. The head is an old student of Sarutobi, so he sent us sports whizzes to get your guys up to scratch" Shikamaru answered quickly. Too quickly for Sasuke's comfort. There was another reason for this sudden transfer.

"Now that you mention it, I remember some of the clubs talking about getting new captains a few weeks ago" Ino mused.  
"So what clubs are you in?" Kiba asked.

"I'm in Karate, Judo, and Kendo" Naruto informed him cheerily. "But I do a few others as well; those are the ones I'm captaining here."  
"Kendo and football" Shikamaru drawled absently, attention focused on his phone.

Sasuke assumed he would be the co-captain in kendo since Naruto was already in charge of that club. He was honestly having some trouble believing that, of course he'd assumed Naruto would take over the karate club back in middle school, but not three!

"Gymnastics and Judo" Gaara spoke bluntly.

"You're the new captains? Awesome! I do judo and football! Though I still can't quite believe Naruto's a captain. It doesn't quite fit for some reason, Karate I get, but not the others. I didn't know you even did kendo and Judo." Kiba seemed to be hopping up and down in his seat from excitement, despite his confusion.

"Well, I did judo down here, and it's kind-of-but-not-really like Karate, so I picked it up quick. Kendo took ages to get the hang of though… Shikamaru had to literally beat it into me. It was a case of learn, or get hit with the kendo sword, and those swords can pack a punch if you use them right" she explained. Shikamaru gave a non committal nod as he continued to twiddle his thumbs across his phone.

Naruto seemed to notice Sasuke be particularly quiet, and directed her attention to him.  
"Hey, Sasuke, are you in any clubs?" she asked eagerly.

"Karate" he stated quietly. "I'm Vice" he then added. He wasn't quite sure why he felt it so important to stress his position in the club, but he did so anyway.

"Really?! Awesome! That means you've gotta be at least a brown right? Yes! I can finally have a decent match!" she bopped up and down in her seat, jabbering something to Gaara excitedly. The red-head ignored her; Naruto either didn't notice or didn't seem to care. Sasuke suspected it was the latter.

She stopped, seemingly remembering something, before turning back to Sasuke.  
"Hey, you live here now right? Where about?" she asked, strangely serious.

"Yeah, I live on the outskirts of west" he replied.  
"Whereabouts?"

"Sharingan Avenue" he stated, wondering what her sudden interest was in his address.

She frowned to herself for a few moments, chewing on a non-existent thumbnail deep in thought.  
"Does Itachi still live with you?"  


* * *

**_Yeah, I'm just so evil.  
Cookies are given for reviews.  
Nat.  
xxx_**


	3. A Few Secrets: The Second Reunion

_**Can't remember who, but someone reminded me that I don't own Loveless either, so I'm putting this up again. However, unless lawyer-Sharkies are going to chase me, I'm not putting this up for a fourth time. **__**I don't own Naruto or Loveless.**_

* * *

"Pardon?" Sasuke asked, hoping to god that he had just misheard her.

"Does Itachi still live with you?" she repeated, as seriously as she had previously.

Sasuke rationalized her question as best he could and concluded she was simply wary of running into Itachi again. While he had come to the conclusion that his brother was _not_ in the habit of raping people (probably…), he had at the same time summarised things had gone less than as planned, or some sort of nasty argument had occurred.

Since this was likely to be the case, he could hardly blame her for wanting to know if he lived with him still. He considered lying, but what if Naruto saw him come pick him up as he did sometimes, in a Madara-written attempt to get them talking again? That would not go down well…

"Yeah, he does. He goes to the college in East" he replied. Naruto stared at him for a few moments before her jaw dropped in uncontrollable howls of laughter.  
"Oh god! Kyuubi'll go ape-shit! Itachi's going to have kittens when he sees him!" she choked around her mirth.

Sasuke failed to understand how she could laugh at something this serious.  
"I don't see how you can laugh at this so easily," Ino stated, taking the words out of his mouth.

Naruto gawped at her.  
"Oh come on! I'd pay to get a picture of his face when he runs into Kyuubi!" she tried resoling loudly.

Ino gave her a look that questioned her mental stability as the bell that signified it was time to go back to their lessons resounded through the lunch hall.

* * *

Itachi dumped his rucksack by the door wearily.

Between the two of them, Kyuubi and Kushina had made his day a living hell; he only had Kushina only once for the day, but she was particularly finicky with the answers he gave her; eventually, he had given up trying to answer her questions altogether. She had not tried to disrupt his learning, no, but she had been rather brisk with him.

Kyuubi was different; he did not punch him again (his bruised jaw seemed satisfactory for the moment), but the brushes, the shoves in the hallway, and the glares had followed him constantly. Itachi was on his last nerve; he wanted nothing more than to flop in front of the TV for once.

He kicked off his shoes and padded down the hallway to the kitchen in search of something edible. His curiosity was piqued when he heard his uncle chatting with someone in the same room he was heading for, and his pace increased. He already recognised Obito's loud voice, but not the others. Entering the room, he thought perhaps he should have stayed back at the library after all.

The other guest appeared to be Obito's fellow turtle-volunteer turned boyfriend, but there was no mistaking the yellow-blonde hair of Naruto's father. The man fixed him with an impassive gaze as he entered the room, and Itachi felt like crying.

_Again_.

Doing his best to ignore the blonde man and the curious glances he was receiving from Obito and the supposed boyfriend, he busied himself with contents of the fridge. It was only when the door was opened that he remembered there would be no food until Sasuke returned from school and a passing visit to the supermarket.

Really, he got the whole Karma thing, but surely, this was a little bit too much? Internally muttering curses and swears on whichever god was responsible for karma (if there was one), he busied himself with the kettle instead - thank god there was a ready supply of tea and water. He did not want to be in the room given their current visitors, but turning and running from the doorway would shatter the fragile remnants of his pride.

He was not quite as prideful as his brother was, but he did have some.

Obito had been staring at his cousin for a long time; he knew something was different about him but he just could not place what. His appearance was the same as it had been the last time he had visited, but he knew something was different about the man.

"You're home early," Madara noted, raising an eyebrow.  
"I have a dissertation to write for Politics," Itachi informed his uncle.  
"Aren't you going to say hello to your cousin? You haven't seen him for two years. Jeez, where did your manners go bo-"  
"Ah! That's it! You're ears are _gone!_ Holy crap, who got you into the sack?!" Obito cried, standing up from his seat and pointing in realization at the blank spaces on his cousin's head.

Madara choked on his laughter, Minato did his best to keep his face straight and not growl, Kakashi raised an eyebrow, and Itachi really, _really_, wanted to cry.

* * *

A ball of crumpled paper hit the side of his head and landed on the music score he was attempting to fill out. It was for a keyboard composition, but Sasuke was not having much success with it; he was severely musically challenged with most instruments except the triangle (he even made a tambourine sound bad). Had music not been mandatory for first and second years, he would have dropped the subject long ago.

He caught sight of Naruto's meaningful glance from the electronic musical board a station in front of him, noting with distaste the musical scribbles all over her own sheet of paper . He remembered she hadn't been bad at music back in Kumo; anything scientific or rigid was a completely different matter of course. How she had ended up in his chemistry class was anyone's guess.

He glanced up to make sure their eccentric teacher was busy looking the other way. He was certain Killer Bee, as their teacher insisted they call him, would not be bothered by a bit of note passing, but it never hurt to be cautious. Once certain the man was busy gesticulating to Hinata (the poor girl looked terrified), he opened up the crumpled ball of paper.

_Do you mind if I stop by at your place after Karate?_

Sasuke scowled, remembering she would be his captain before the reality of her words hit him. Naruto wanted to go to his house. Going by her earlier inquiries, he could only take that to mean she wanted to talk to Itachi. His eyes bulged slightly in thir sockets before his pencil tore into the paper, furiously scribbling a reply.

_I don't mind, but why do you want to? Itachi won't get back from college until dinner._

He stared at the words before scribbling them out hastily. He had learned never to mention a woman's past relationships unless she did first the hard way (Read: via Sakura's fists), and he did not want to risk Naruto's wrath. He was pondering the excuses that would prevent her entering the house when another ball of paper hit him in the forehead.

Distracted, he put aside the first note, not noticing the choked noises Ino was making on his left.

_So? How was it?  
__How was what?_

Sasuke didn't understand the message at all. Hoping to gain insight into Naruto's insanity he poured over the rest of the scrunched up, surprisingly tidy handwriting - he had forgotten how neat Naruto's handwriting was.

_Don't play dumb with me Naruto! Now that you aren't a useless heap of mush, you owe me details! That is the protocol!  
__Since when? Since when was there a rule that I had to say anything about my actual sex life?  
__Since I said so! Now spill!  
__Ino, I don't think this is a conversation to have in the middle of music.  
__Music-Schmoosic. Come on! I already spilled my guts when you should have first!_

Sasuke's head told him to stop reading there, but Sasuke never listened to himself (one of the signs of madness he was sure).

_Ino, I really don't think this is the best place for this… What if someone reads over your shoulder or something?  
__So they get a shock, screw them! I want details girl! I swear on my ponytail that I will buy you ramen for two weeks.  
_…_Will you let me wear the boys' uniform too?  
__Don't push your luck; it's the ramen or nothing!  
_…_Urgh. Fine. You remember how you said Kiba liked the lip nibbling when you make out?  
__Sure I do, I told you.  
__Itachi does too, but like, twenty times over. Possessive git just isn't the phrase; I didn't know it was possible to get bite marks dow-_

Ino, who looked ready to choke on either laughter or embarrassment, snatched the paper from his stone hands. She pulled Sasuke own piece of paper in front of him and tapped it. A glace towards the blonde girl in front of him showed a tomato red face before it was hurriedly flipped back to her musical score.

Sasuke decided to erase everything he had just read from his mind, only registering the new knowledge that his brother was not a rapist - everything else had to go. Instead, he picked up the real note, and scribbled a hasty reply.

_Fine with me, but I need to go to the supermarket on the way home._

He tossed the note onto the girls desk, only for the ball to flick him in the head once again. Making certain it was the correct note this time, he glanced at the reply.

_Alright, let me pick a few things and I'll save you the cooking to return the favour; you cook on Tuesdays right?_

Sasuke wondered how she managed to remember his family chore rotations after a two-year absence.

* * *

"Really, if I'd have know you were living so close by I'd have gotten back in touch months ago Minato; what's Kyuubi doing now, he's the same age as Itachi isn't he?" Madara asked, taking a sip of his tea.

Itachi glared at his uncle over his own mug - the man had forced him into sitting down and sharing the old times with their guests and the word awkward was simply inadequate for the atmosphere flowing between himself and the blonde man. At least, _he_ found it awkward - that smug look on the man's face told Itachi he was enjoying his discomfort immensely. He couldn't really blame the man, but it was still weird damn it!

"Kyuubi goes to the college over in the east district," Minato informed his old neighbour.

Madara's eyes gave Itachi a wicked gleam over his mug but the man said nothing, instead he chose to discuss a topic that, whilst ultimately capturing his interest, Itachi had no interest in discussing for the sake of his own sanity.

"And Naruto?"

Instead of the awkwardness that he had been expecting, Minato's face beamed with pride.

"She's just transferred into Konoha west today, but she got into Sarutobi's on a sports scholarship, had to keep her grades up of course, but she did it. There some sort of student exchange on at the moment for the sports programmes, so she's at west for now"

Itachi tried. He really did, but the moment Naruto name and Sarutobi's entered the same sentence, he choked on his own laughter; just imagining Naruto amongst the snooty-nosed rich kids and know it alls of Sarutobi's was enough to bring tears of laughter to his eyes. Then his uncle ruined the moment:

"Really? I wouldn't have imagined that - kid doesn't seem too mixable with those rich types… Seemed that way anyway, what do you think Itachi?"

Itachi felt Minato's gaze on him for almost two second before he gulped down the rest of his scalding tea.  
"Ihavetofinishmydissertation!" he garbled with speed before standing from his seat and fleeing from the room.

Minato stared at the doorway before turning back to his friend.  
"You're a cruel uncle Madara; was that really necessary? The poor kid was already in pieces from Kyuubi and Kushina," Minato berated, giving the doorway a concerned glance.

Unlike Kyuubi, he was open-minded enough to know Madara's nephew was not one to act without reason; things may have ended badly, but he was certain that the boy had cared about his daughter. He had seen the boy reject enough girls (and boys) back in Kumo to know Itachi would not have sex with any old person.

That and his daughter was very impulsive; Itachi had enough of a head on his shoulders to avoid the situation he had landed himself in, it was just his bad luck that Naruto had been part of the equation. He could not say he was happy with his actions, far from it, but he wasn't going to black the boys eye the way his son had.

"Oh shush, you loved it and you know it. Besides, if Naruto meets Sasuke - and she probably will - I'm certain she'll be coming by later on. This way he'll be so freaked out, she wont bother him so much" Madara waved a hand in the air, as if the matter was akin to an irritating fly.

"I stand by my original statement; you are a cruel and twisted uncle"  
"Yes, but I do it out of love!"

* * *

"Itachi and politics?" Naruto snorted, barley believing Sasuke's reply.

Sasuke felt caught between a rock and a hard place, and Naruto's strained attempt at humour spoke volumes - the shopping trip had been one of the fastest he had ever experienced. Naruto had inadvertently revealed that she had had sex with his brother, but Sasuke had been privy to that since she had first left his old home in the middle of the night.

Naruto didn't know that herself, but she felt rather embarrassed that Sasuke had read about the gory details, gory details he had no desire to know, ever, under any circumstances. He could tell the subject was going to come up before they reached his house, but what did he say? That he had seen her leave? Or did he keep that to himself?

Sasuke was experiencing confusion, and he did not like it. As they turned onto his street, Naruto's face twitched in irritation and she stopped in the middle of the pavement, directly in front of him. To his comfort, she looked as enthusiastic about the stagnant conversation they were required to have (if they were to communicate as usual) as he did.

"Okay, shoot; ask me anything, and I'll do my best to answer, okay?" she informed him.

Her face was bright red, clear signpost to her embarrassment, but her tone was resolute and Sasuke was not so proud to deny that he was very curious. He decided that, since Naruto was willing to be so frank about the matter, it would be insulting to withhold his own knowledge on the subject; that being said his first question could have been worded better.

"Did... Did Itachi rape you?" he asked bluntly - he was certain now that such an event had not been the case, but he needed verbal verification for some reason.

Naruto seemed to choke for a few moments.

"_W-What?_ No! It was my idea in the first place- I mean, no! No, it was all- Just no!" she blushed a darker shade of crimson and Sasuke had the decency to be embarrassed for the need to ask in the first place; that being said he didn't deny he felt relieved.

"Where the hell did you get_ that _idea from?" she asked, horrifyingly fascinated by the root of the question.

It was Sasuke's turn to blush, and the light red dusting on his cheeks looked like the tomatoes he loved so much on his pale skin. He had not planned to reveal his side of things so soon, but there was really no avoiding it now.

"…I heard you arguing; it woke me up so I looked out the door. You looked really mad when you left," he confessed, not daring to look her in the eye.

Dear god, this was like sex education all over again; he distinctly remembered feeling the exact measure of discomfort as his father tried to explain the reproductive system with something resembling dignity (he had failed miserably). Was this conversation really necessary? Well, probably, but it was so awkward…

"Y-You _heard_ us?!" Naruto yelped, horrified.

"No! N-Not_ that!_ I didn't hear you- No! I just heard you arguing, and I saw you leave! I didn't hear… _other stuff!_" he stated with a heightened volume, his face turning tomato red in his effort to explain the matter.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, but Sasuke was certain he heard a muffled snicker of 'virgin' as she resumed pace; apparently, the topic was at a level that could be discussed while moving now. Sasuke did not argue and resumed pace himself; he could see his house already.

"Ah, that's a relief - that could have been embarrassing…" she mumbled to herself.  
"Why did you leave like that? I mean… that's not supposed to be-"

Sasuke frowned as he tried to think of the right words.

"I'm clearly no expert, but I'd say that arguing like that after having sex isn't really the best thing to hope for," he said, waving a hand towards his own cat ears - that lay flat on his head in a mixture of confusion and irritation.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at his stumbling before he finally got his message across; a frown appeared on her face as she contemplated her reply. Sasuke did not like the amount of time she spent on her thoughts for some reason. He opened the garden gate.

"You know that Itachi was in a gang right?" she asked, caution rather than embarrassment in her voice.

Sasuke nodded.

"Lets just say he got more involved than I liked; I wanted him to leave, but it really wasn't that simple. I was fourteen, so I didn't see it that way… and we argued," she informed him in a flat voice with no room for further discussion.

It was just as well; they had reached the door.

* * *

Madara near smothered Naruto when she stepped inside the house, and he nearly cried when she informed him she would be making certain the Uchiha family consumed _'something actually edible' _that night. None of the three males in the household were what could be called skilled at cooking, and Naruto had been a culinary ray of sunshine before her family's mover more often than would have been expected.

Sasuke watched her as she chopped up leeks and cabbages for the stew she was making - _'if I make stew, you'll have something edible tomorrow too'_ - with a critical eye. He didn't understand how she could have kept her relationship with his brother a secret; while they hadn't been as close as he would have liked, they had hardly been strangers. Besides being classmates, her father had been close with his uncle and his parents.

Itachi had liked Naruto, sure, but… He had never imagined that like was strong enough to have sex with her.  
He didn't understand how they came to have a relationship in the first place.

In spite of his thoughts he noticed a nervousness in her actions; she was un-naturally fond of stirring the stew as it boiled, and her fingers tapped the counter impatiently; he'd never seen her nervous before, and he surmised that she must have really cared for his brother.

It irritated him tremendously, but he couldn't deny what he saw.

"I'll be back in a minuet," he told her, moving from his slumped stature against the doorframe.

She nodded absently, her attention focused on the pan; its contents did not seem to be thickening as they should have been. Compared to the Uchihas, Naruto was a Michelin chef, but even genius Itachi couldn't make tea without burning water. Compared to Hinata, Naruto was just as bad in the kitchen as the Uchihas

He left the room silently; he knew that he was probably digging his own grave, but he didn't like the way she was acting and only one person could calm her at the moment. Much as he hated to admit it, he was of no use to her at the moment. It was with these thoughts that he knocked on his brother's bedroom door for the first time in two years.

* * *

"I told you not to disturb me Uncle; this essay is due in in two days," Itachi growled at the knock on his door.

To say he was angry with his uncle at the moment would be an undertaken; the man had deliberately forgotten to mention Naruto's family had moved over to their side of town. He'd known that they had lived on the other side of the giant city after a short email form Naruto about two weeks after the family had moved, but that had been all the contact with the family until today. Now they lived only two streets away!

"Try again; you have a visitor. If I were you, I wouldn't keep them waiting either"

Itachi stumbled over his keyboard and whiled in his seat to face the door - mouth parted in surprise, shock, and disbelief. Sasuke hadn't spoken to him voluntarily since his vicious revelation two years ago, let alone knocked on his bedroom door. Their interaction had been only for the necessities - whose turn it was to order takeaway, or take out the rubbish.

How many surprises could he have in one day? Essay completely forgotten he dashed out of his bedroom and hurried down the stairs. He was surprised by the smell of food that was somewhat edible emerging from the kitchen of all places. He did not see the mentioned visitor in the living room, so he assumed they were in the kitchen.

His assumption was correct, and he didn't bother to stop his jaw from dropping fully to the floor when he saw the ear-less blonde girl venting her anger on her bunches as she tried to get the pan of stew on the stove to thicken.

Naruto had not really changed all that much since she had stormed out of his bedroom two years ago. She had a few more curves, but could still be considered as flat as a board, for lack of a better simile. Her hair was longer, but still forced into two haphazard bunches, and apparently still suffered abuse from her frustration.

"I'm going to kill you Sasuke!" he hissed under his breath to the little brother bound to be snickering somewhere out of sight.

Naruto straighten, perhaps catching the minute whisper, and whirled around. Her eyes widened momentarily, before that stupid grin broke out on her face. He knew what was coming and had braced himself for the impact several moments before she threw her arms around his neck.

"Tachi!"

* * *

**Aren't I just evil?**  
**How's that for a cliff-hanger?**

**Hope this was entertaining!**  
**Nat**  
**xxx**


	4. Changes: The Old and The New

_**I don't own Naruto or Loveless.**_

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* * *

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"N-Naruto?" Itachi asked in disbelief.

Really, if one was being suffocated, that usually meant that the person doing the suffocation was a tangible one, and not imaginary, but Itachi still couldn't believe that it was her. Sure, he'd seen her family, and he'd noted that she may be in his brother's class, but he hadn't expected to run into her (literally) until much later.

But she was real – one hundred percent real. Her hair still smelled the same way it had the last time he'd seen her. Thick and comforting; god, he'd missed it. He hadn't noticed before, maybe because of the way things had played out, but now… He tightened his own arms around her and after some moments, he let her down.

He let out a soft chuckle at the annoyed expression on her face before he was sent flying into the wall. Itachi cradled his jaw with one hand; he should have expected that. Naruto was probably a black belt by now, and she'd got one hell of a temper. That and relation of Kyuubi's was bound to have violent tendencies.

"That was for being an imbecile" Naruto informed him, turning back to the stew.

"That's the second punch I've received in one day" he mumbled, quietly complaining to himself.

Naruto turned, snickering lightly.

"Yeah well, you aren't very popular at the moment; Sasuke isn't the only one who has a bone to pick with you…"

The silence that followed was not awkward until skin contact was made once again; he had been helping her with the stew, chopping the last of the vegetables to be added, when their fingers brushed over the bubbling concoction. He noted the worry in her eyes then, the nervousness, the unspoken questions. He didn't have any answers for her, he would like some, but he really didn't know. They hadn't talked in her two year absence, and even before that theirs had not been a relationship built on many words.

He knew everything about her - that had been his job after all - but at the same time he knew nothing. All he remembered was his own tendency to keep things hidden. That and her own tendency to hide behind bluntness and more words than she required -usually the wrong ones.

"Look, Itachi, I didn't come here just make you and Sasuke an edible meal for once," she said, turning from the cooker and resting back against the counter top, avoiding his gaze.  
"I figured as much, but I don't know what you want me to say" he replied, focusing his own gaze on the simmering contets of the pan.

She looked at him once, then turned back to the pan.

"I can't stand this Itachi - Its been driving me up the wall since... I know I'm digging up a can of worms, but... God forbid I have no idea why, but I want to try and have an _actual_ relationship with you this time, or friends. Just _something_ thats actually there this time, not created. I guess I don't really know, but since when was that a new thing?"

The last part was mumbled, probably to herself, but he heard her all the same. It was a low blow, albeit unintended. He had never meant to lie to her, never meant to hide everything, hide the things. That being said, he had done it all the same, and he still didn't have an answer for her.

"One of my friends is having a party - huge thing - and I'm inviting you. It's this Friday. Whatever you think, I'm not expecting any answers. If you show up, and you have any, then great, but I'm not giving you an ultimatum. I know this is probably a surprise and all" she hurriedly pushed him out of her way to stir the stew.

His first thought was that it wasn't long enough - he hadn't seen her for two years and she wanted an answer in a week? Then he remembered she was not the most patient of beings. He internally applauded her restraint. He also felt that it probably wouldn't take him all that long to think of something.

"What time is it?" he asked as quiet as ever, pulling some bowls from one of the cupboards.

Naruto smiled at him directly.

"Seven, but no-one will show up at seven. Be there for half eight?"  
"All right,"

Naruto grinned at him before heading out of the room.

* * *

Sasuke didn't know what he had been expecting, but he was sure it ad not been what had not been what unfolded in front of him; he hadn't imagined Naruto would be so happy to see his brother - she had seemed more nervous than excited earlier.

He hadn't expected that hug any more than he had expected for his brother to return it; it shouldn't have surprised him at all. It had to be a special type of person to drag up Itachi's emotions, and Itachi wasn't the type to forget or move on so easily. He knew that very well; he had come from the same mould after all.

Itachi clearly still thought the world of her; he'd never seen Itachi so open with someone before, not since those years before Itachi got into the wrong crowd, with that gang. He didn't even try to resist when Naruto sent him flying into the wall, and that spoke a lot to Sasuke.

One thing he definitely hadn't been expecting though was Naruto's reactions; he had been expecting anger, shouting, maybe hushed - but still anger. Or some sort of final goodbye – not rekindling the flames. It didn't sound like they had any sort of functioning relationship from what he had overheard, so why was she so eager to get reacquainted with his brother again?

It didn't really sound like Naruto was referring to their old... relationship when she said she said not knowing wasn't a new thing, but their current and future one; maybe it was to do with how they met? How they broke up? Sasuke wondered if he should have ignored his brother for the past few years; he didn't know anything about his brother or even Naruto any more.

Naruto had said the reason she broke things off with his brother was because of the gang he was mixed up in, but this didn't sound like a normal gang – he'd assumed it had been a plain old group of yankis, but the way Naruto spoke made him think Itachi rebellious days had been not so much rebellious and more illegal than he had originally thought.

Naruto popped her head around his bedroom door and grinned at him.

"Hey, if you want food, get your arse downstairs!" she informed him before disappearing again.

Setting down the book he had been pretending to be reading he headed for the door; Naruto's friend had mentioned a party earlier, and he was certain that Naruto wouldn't be able to stand not avoiding her old friends to it. He'd hazard a guess that she has already told Itachi about it. He'd also guess that Itachi would go; it was the perfect opportunity to interrogate the both of them, or find something out.

The thought in mind, he felt a little more confident as he descended the stairs.

* * *

The karate club was not one of the best clubs in the school – Sasuke was good, and there were a few others who weren't half bad, but most of the kids in it had taken it up simply for the benefit of college applications, or just for the sake of saying they _'knew'_ the sport.

Sasuke had been the vice-captain the year before, and even he wasn't the speediest when it came to changing into the white uniform. It had turned into an almost dreary thing every time he turned up for practice, and that had been very normal; when Sasuke entered the changing rooms, he was completely stunned by the frenzy of activity.

People were moving; people didn't move very fast in the changing rooms, despite his numerous attempts – he had long since discovered he was not cut out for actually leading the bunch of monkeys, but he had tried. Where had all the signs of life come from?

As he pulled his own uniform from the locker, he listened to the conversation that buzzed around him, he discovered the reason for all the sudden activity; Naruto had been in school three days now, and word had spread that the new girl was the new captain of the club.

"A _Yudansha?_ Come on, that takes years! There's no way that blonde could be that good! Just because she's a black belt doesn't mean she has a Dan ranking!"  
"Idiot; she's from Sarutobi's! They wouldn't have sent her if she wasn't good, and Sarutobi's level of good is three times ours! She's captaining Judo! She's Vice in Kendo too! If thats any indication, I frankly can't wait to see her up against the browns!"

Sasuke was interested in having a match against her himself – he still didn't know how high a grade Naruto had achieved yet, but she had been a green belt two years ago, and most of that had been from her own practice since their middle school teacher had been spread amongst his student pretty thinly. Sarutobi's was much more specialised, so she had to have at leased earned One-Dan ranking.

"I don't care how good she is – I just hope she's _single_. Have you seen her legs yet?"

Sasuke rammed his shirt and the rest of his school uniform into the locker with a force that caught himself as well as those around him completely by surprise – for some reason that last remark had brought a snarl of anger up, and he almost snapped the draw-string on his white trousers as he pulled them on.

"Sasuke, did you get a tattoo?"

Sasuke looked up at a boy he had seemed to have forgotten the name of in confusion; he followed his his gaze to...

He blinked in surprise at the thin coil of lettering that ran around his neck in a coil over his left deltoid, almost like an old-fashioned tribal style tattoo; it was a slightly darker shade than the rest of his skin. It almost looked like handwriting; despite close inspection he couldn't make it out, and he pulled the white wrap-round gi that completed the uniform, tying it in place with a brown obi.

"Hurry up and get changed!" he snapped at the staring students, heading into the training room itself before a single utterance could be made.

* * *

Naruto was waiting with Kakashi when the rest of the club gathered in the hall, joking in a rather relaxed manner amongst themselves, and Sasuke felt actual pity for them when he caught the warning wrinkle of her nose, for a few moments anyway – it quickly dissipated. Kakashi introduced her, and, after a brief greeting and a few words with the teacher, then she got down to the business of pulling the rug from under their feet.

The warm-up lasted thirty minuets; It didn't bother him (nor a few of the others) but for most of the club, it was like being dunked in ice cold water – they were used to ten minuets, and after the extra twenty were over, most of them were completely knackered. Naruto didn't have a single hair out of place, and waited for about two minuets before starting another rug-pull.

"All right, you, come stand over here"

She beckoned a third year girl forward, indicating the practice mat she was standing on; Naruto's uniform was still as odd as ever, cut down to shorts and a short-sleeved jacket instead of the usual longer variety – he had called it weird when he first started karate, but now his own uniform had shrunk a little in arm and leg length – it was much easier to move in.

The girl seemed to perk up at the selection and immediately moved forward onto the mat; Naruto gave the colour of her belt a quick glance (blue), before falling into a kumite stance. The girl looked a little bit more alarmed, but followed the action. After a signal from Kakashi – the long-suffering teacher – Naruto immediately descended on the girl in what looked like a blur of strikes and kicks.

Oddly, it wasn't enough to actually topple the girl to the ground, and she kept up for some time, then as the strength, speed, and variety of Naruto's attacks increased she began to falter, struggling to block in the right place, missing deliberate invitation for a strike of her own from Naruto. It wasnt long from the start of the spar till she was flat on the floor mat, wheezing for breath.

Naruto instructed her to go sit on one side of the room, before calling on another student, a petrified looking second year boy with an orange belt; Naruto repeated the process, but spent a great deal more time with him as she increased her speed than in comparison to her first opponent, and he was sent to a different side of the room.

The process continued for thirty minuets, and soon here were two groups of people standing with the boy and girl, the number with the girl significantly outweighing those with the boy. Sasuke noted that he and a few others close to or the same as his own rank had not been called forth. Once she was finished, Naruto stared disapprovingly at the large er group, then turned on Kakashi.

"Who tested them?" she asked, gesturing to both the groups.

"It was one of the old instructors; I'm usually in charge of judo, but when the old teacher who was responsible left, they had me fill in since I've done some karate before, but... I don't teach karate, so I can't grade them; I can only give them pointers." he replied over the top of a green book.

Naruto, pondered it, then gave the book a disgusted look; she yanked it out of his hand as she turned back to the two groups, her suddenly metallic gaze levelled at both of them.

"For the next eight weeks, all of you are going to be going over your strikes, stances, kicks before a ranking session – not a single one of you are at the level you're supposed to be at."

she turned to the larger group.  
"Unless you lot smarten up in that time, you should be prepared to be digging your old belts out; I started every one of you out at the same beginner level before building up to you own rank, and you all started blundering before I even reached it – some of you didn't even know what style you were trying to use, never mind how to block mine" she informed them pointedly, then turned to the other group ignoring the crestfallen faces.

Most of them were closer to the darker end of the colour spectrum, unlike the other group, who were mostly reds yellows and green in belt colour – there was even a few rank beginners that had been stuck at the bottom since there was no official teacher to test them.

"You though, lasted quite a bit longer, so if you work hard, be prepared to shell out for a new belt instead" she grinned.

For some reason, Sasuke felt his guts churn in panic when Naruto turned her direction towards himself and the others who had not participated. He was going to get the shit for this – he just knew it. He had known that the club had been a complete shambles for a while, but he wasn't responsible for grading! How was he supposed to know it was so bad?

"You – Bleach Boy – you're up" Naruto barked at one of his companions.

Suigetsu was a purple belt, supposedly only one Kyu grade below Sasuke in the club rankings, and had been one of the few to give him a decent fight. He seemed to have picked up on the dangerous layer in Naruto's voice as he took place on the mat, and his shoulders were a little tenser than usual. The fight was much longer than the previous ones, but Suigetsu still ended up flat on his back, and sent towards the smaller group.

Karin, a brown like Sasuke, was finished off much sooner, and sent to the larger group despite her protests. Juugo, a huge third year purple, was visibly shaking as he stared at Suigetsu (who was nursing several bruises), and his short canine ears and tail were drooping as he approached the mat.

In the end, he lasted lasted a full fifteen minuets before being sent off to join Suigetsu. Then it was his turn, and he could feel his own cat ears twitching in nervousness (and anticipation) as he took up a stance in front of Naruto – it didn't really help that every club member was watching the match between Captain and Vice with baited breath.

The first strike came without warning and he almost missed it, but his hand shot up in time to keep Naruto's hand from crashing into his neck. He hadn't been prepared for the speed of her blows, or the drastic increase in precision, or the sheer strength of her blows at all. She didn't fight like she had before at all.

Whoever her teacher had been at Sarutobi's, they must have been a complete master; there wasn't a single amount of hesitation in her attacks, and it was almost as if she had practised them so much that it had become a basic instinct. Not a single one of her movements were wasted... Specialised schooling or not, there was no way she could have gotten this good with just after school practices!

He had been to a few private sessions to keep his own skills up, but they were expensive – unless her parent had been very free with their money, there was no way she could have been to any for then length of time her increase in skill indicated. He wasn't criticising it – he just wondered how she had gotten this good so quickly.

Even if it had been two years, Naruto had clearly gained experience in fighting from somewhere other than the genius school. Naruto had been close to brown before she had left, as had he, and he had practised as hard as she had, but the gap that had been there before seemed to have doubled. He could put that down to lack of decent training on his part, but not by much.

He lasted for almost thirty minuets before falling onto his own back yet again; a strike towards his right side, and a sweep of one leg had his feet knocked out from under him.

"You improved – go sit with bleach boy and carrot head; you should have gone to one of those session and tried out for a black belt months ago Sasuke" she grinned.

Her congratulations some how managed to still sound reprimanding, even as she helped him up fro the floor; as she pulled on his arm, she tugged the sleeve of his gi, revealing the strange new mark on his left shoulder. It could have been a trick of the light, but he doubted it – the moment Naruto's eyes caught sight of it, he saw fear flicker across her face.

* * *

_**I debated a lot on if I was going to include the battle elements of loveless in this, since I really wanted to keep it away from action, but I figured that I'll need some of it for plot development. Anyone who's read loveless, feel free to guess what Sasuke's name is gonna be, if not, well, I suppose wait and see, but I recommend reading loveless instead. Loveless is awesome, but the slow updates are a constant misery.**_

_**I've noticed some grammar and errors of wording in previous chapters, and they will be corrected soon.**_


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